Garcia Media Life

The National Radio Hall of Fame recently set about to select its slate of inductees and retired NPR Newscast veteran, Carl Kasell was nominated for his decades of work. Since I run this unit for NPR, this made me swell with pride- though admittedly, Carl retired just before I came on board so I have absolutely nothing to do with the accolades.

I, however, cheered mightily from the sidelines for Carl- on a number of different levels. Turns out another contender for the Hall of Fame was one Howard Stern. You may have heard of him. He was once on terrestrial commercial radio before heading to XM Radio for a gazillion dollars. Howard was, of course, a lock for this Hall of Fame thing. And he said the following about Carl Kasell on his XM Radio show:

“Who’s Carl Kasell (and he mispronounced his name- it’s like Castle not Cuh-sell)? He got himself all the way to NPR. What a lucky duck….he’s got to have at LEAST four listeners.”

Gracious as always. For the record, NPR Newscasts are heard by over 24 million people a week- but more importantly- here was Carl’s response to Howard as heard on Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me, an NPR quiz show that airs on the weekends that Carl helps host and announce.

“Dear Mr. Stein,

My understanding is that you are featured on a satellite information service, available in some brands of cars, on which you host a show about gynecology. While I’m sure this is a useful service for medical professionals, like all of us in radio, [surely] you aspire to something greater.”

Heh heh. The record will show that Carl Kasell has just been inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame and Howard Stern was not.

All’s well that ends well.